Deluge
by tiptoed on cliff's edge
Summary: An unexpected storm is the last thing Fuchuuya needed. But maybe it's just the thing he needs.


Deluge

An unexpected storm was the last thing Shinnosuke wanted. But maybe it's just the thing he needs.

His day just couldn't get any better, Shinnosuke mused darkly as he frowned at the cumulo-nimbus clouds that started all this bad weather so unexpected in September. What had started as a light drizzle early this morning morphed into a thunderstorm by the time Shinnosuke was on his way to school. His shoes were waterlogged within the first 5 minutes. His math homework was wet and he forgot his bento. Add the fact that he hadn't been getting any sleep in the past few weeks dreaming of walking aimlessly through an endless fog made a very irritated Shinnosuke that day.

His mood did not perk up even after he had changed into his spare and dry PE uniform and found out that his homework is still salvageable. His cleaning duty partner was ditched him. In fact, it was well after lunch that she came, apologizing profusely at Shinnosuke for her tardiness. "It's mom s death anniversary," she murmured. She rarely talked about her mother and somehow Shinnosuke felt he was being privy to something he wasn't supposed to know. But it somewhat made him feel a bit better, knowing she wasn't sick or got caught up in an accident. Even when she was there for the rest of the afternoon he knew she was more melancholic than what was normal for her, Shinnosuke discreetly staring at her from his seat that was right behind hers. She was staring with unseeing eyes at the rain. Shadows cast by raindrops on her face as they slide against the window shed the tears she couldn't.

After class, she slipped out without him noticing, his friends Kenta and Shinobu distracting him about the new video game at the arcade. Not that he was stalking her. That's not it. He was just... concerned. He did save her life once as a matter of fact. And since then he left uneasy whenever he thought about her and water. Yes, that was it. It was just concern for an old classmate he had saved before.

Shinnosuke realized there were only a few students left, choosing to wait till the rain lets up. He really needed to go home and get some sleep. Something streaked past him as he tried to get up from the bench where he was ruminating.

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Asumi had to go home. And she had to go home now! She had chores to finish and no amount of rain was going to stop her. She just wanted to find a little comfort among her favorite books, with the weight of her mom's anniversary on her mind. Too bad she got caught up in the library with the newest acquisition on the Hubble telescope pictures. In her favorite corner in the library and the muffled droning of the air-conditioner Asumi lost track of time bringing her in her current predicament. What if dad came home without any cooked rice? He would probably just go to sleep without any dinner. Determinedly she donned her raincoat when she was forced to stop by a hand pulling her collar from behind.

"What do you think you're doing?" Shinnosuke released her.

"Ah, Fuuchi. Konbannwa," Asumi bowed after she righted her collar.

Shinnosuke folded his arms, stared down at her while waiting for her answer.

"I'm going home," Asumi's furrowed brows showed her confusion at his question.

"Can't you see its raining cats and dogs?!" Shinnosuke wonders how many blood vessels he's burst on this girl. "Where have you been?" _Ooops._ That last question shouldn't have come out. Thankfully, she didn't seem to hear that.

"But I need to finish my chores. And dad might worry if I'm not home on time," her lips in a pout as she contemplated her options. And in that moment Shinnosuke felt that he had to do something, _anything_, to take away that look on her face.

"I think Kamogawa-jii-chan would worry more if you come home like drowned rat. Come on, I'll accompany you home."

"But Fuuchi, I live-"

"We'll use the bike and so we can get home faster."

"But we live in diff-"

"WOULD YOU JUST STOP ARGUING AND DO AS I SAY?!" Shinnosuke took 2 deep breaths to calm himself down. "Look, this rain might not really let up anytime soon and it would be more difficult to get home when it's darker. We both have raincoats so we should be fine. The faster I get you home then the faster _I_ can get home. Okay?"

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Clearly, he wasn't thinking it through when he made the offer. He already had his helmet strapped on and was waiting for Asumi to get in. He was really trying not to think that in a few seconds Asumi will be holding him rather closely as they traversed the streets. Turning his face away, he tried to suppress the heat from rising to his cheeks.

"Fuuchi, I haven't ridden in a bike before."

Shinnosuke turned. A faint blush stained Asumi's cheeks as she stared at her feet. Ever so briefly she looked up at him. And he was irrevocably lost.

He knew, _oh, he knew,_ the blush was just due to her embarrassment about not knowing something as common as riding a bike. But he could not help but think that maybe, just maybe, she was also feeling the first stirrings of love in that brief interlude their eyes met, like what he was feeling right now. The fog of uncertainty was lifted. And all he had to do now was so make sure that his first love got home.

"Hold tight then."

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It was Shinnosuke Fuchuuya who came home like a drowned rat. His socks were wet, his pants were full of smatterings of mud, and his teeth were chattering from the cold. He slept a dreamless sleep for the first time in weeks.


End file.
